Currently, delivery service providers such as the United States Postal Service™ (“USPS”™) deliver items, such as mail (or mailpieces), to recipients based upon an address. The address may contain identifying information such as a name, street, city, state, and postal code, such as a ZIP Code™. The ZIP Code may represent a geographic location and have five digits. In addition, a postal code may also be represented as a nine-digit ZIP+4™ Code, which identifies the particular geographic segment location in greater detail. Generally, a ZIP+4 Code is a code that supplements the standard five digit ZIP Code with an additional four digits. A nine-digit ZIP+4 Code may identify a residential block, a firm, or a floor of a high-rise building. The additional four digits of a ZIP+4 Code allows for more efficient sorting and delivery of mail items through the mail delivery process. In addition, high-volume customers using USPS may receive discounts for providing a ZIP+4 Code on a mail item. For these reasons, it may be desirable to code all addresses with a ZIP+4 Code, where possible.
Normally, those using an address list, such as mailers, can process an address list using a reference database product that first standardizes the address and then assigns the correct ZIP+4 Code to the physical address. This reference product is commonly referred to as a “ZIP+4 engine,” an example of which is the Address Management Systems (“AMS”) Application Program Interface (API), commercially available from the USPS. The ZIP+4 engine accepts street addresses with city and state information and attempts to match it against a master database such as an AMS database, to be described below. Such a database may contain all known deliverable addresses within a geographical area. ZIP+4 engines typically use a database containing information regarding ranges of addresses for a given block in a given city with a five-digit ZIP Code.
Delivery service providers may use postal codes, such as ZIP+4 Codes, and address information to create machine-readable codes, such as Delivery Point Barcodes (DPBC's), which uniquely identify each address. DPBC's may identify a delivery point, which may be defined as the mailing address of a postal patron where delivery personnel deliver mail, and may include a mailbox located on a curb, a door slot, a box on a house, a centralized group of mail boxes, or the location of a receptionist. DPBC's may consist of eleven digits, of which five digits are allocated to the ZIP Code, 4 digits are allocated to the ZIP+4 Code, and the last two digits are allocated to a delivery point. Through the use of automated mail processing equipment, delivery service providers, such as USPS, may apply a machine-readable code, such as an eleven-digit DPBC, to mail items carrying a ZIP+4 Code. Other barcode formats, such as a 4-state barcode, may also be used as machine-readable codes. The service provider may then use the barcode to sort the mail in delivery sequence order. As a result, a delivery employee can efficiently prepare the mail for delivery, and the time needed for delivery preparation is reduced.
Without a machine-readable code, such as a DPBC or 4-state barcode, a mailpiece cannot be sorted in delivery sequence order by an automated machine. Thus, a mailpiece without a machine-readable code must be manually handled and processed by a delivery service employee or processed through additional systems prior to delivery. Manual operation is problematic because it is a labor intensive endeavor. Inefficiencies resulting from manual handling of the mail can be very costly and time consuming, thus diminishing customer satisfaction. Indeed, delays in the delivery of forwarded mail to new addresses is the fifth most common complaint from USPS customers.
It is possible, however, that even with a machine-readable code, such as a DPBC or 4-state barcode, attached to a mailpiece, manual labor may be needed to deliver the mailpiece. For example, manual labor may be needed to sort a mailpiece where the machine-readable code attached to the mailpiece does not correspond to an established delivery point. Address problems in which machine-readable codes do not resemble an established delivery point may arise for various reasons. For example, an address problem may be associated with the incorrect entry of addresses into a database, such as the Address Management System (“AMS”).
AMS is designed to contain a list of all known delivery addresses serviceable by a delivery service, such as USPS. This database is created by postal carriers and AMS specialists who possess the Delivery Force Knowledge™ (local delivery information), and who are thus in a better position than other personnel to recognize inaccuracies in any uncoded addresses. Many postal products and processes depend on the AMS database to provide accurate addresses, more efficient sorting and automation plans, and faster service to the postal patron.
Despite using numerous preventative measures to ensure that the AMS database is accurate and consistently up-to-date, a mailpiece is sometimes addressed to a location that is not contained in AMS. As suggested above, errors may occur for various reasons. For example, an address may be incorrectly entered into AMS, or an entire address or part thereof may be omitted, resulting in an invalid delivery point. In addition, inaccuracies in AMS may occur because new addresses have not been added to the database. New addresses may arise daily from activities such as new building construction and subdivision of an existing structure. Similarly, an AMS inaccuracy may arise when an address located at a delivery point becomes obsolete. Delivery points, and the addresses they identify, may become obsolete for many reasons. For example, a delivery point may become obsolete due to a structure being torn down, destroyed by fire, abandoned, etc.
AMS inaccuracies may cause numerous problems. Most notably, an inaccuracy in the AMS may result in the use of manual labor in the mail delivery process, the problems of which were described above.